A football team can forget how to win, and
Butch Henderson doesn't want that to happen to the Wayland Baptist Pioneers.
Seven days after opening their season with a disappointing loss to Louisiana College, the Pioneers are back on the field at 1 p.m. Saturday, this time at Apple Stadium in Sherman to take on the Austin College Kangaroos. Henderson hopes his team is more emotionally charged Saturday than it was a week earlier in Pineville, and it's up to him, he said, to make sure of it.
"We just need to execute and do what we know how to do, and that includes emotionally playing through a ballgame," Henderson said. "We worked hard in practice, have a great attitude in practice. We just have to carry that into the game with some emotion and be consistent with it.
"We have to remember how to win and do the things it takes to win a game."
With kickoff at 1 p.m., live coverage of Austin College's home-opener begins at 12:30 with audio streaming by Danny Andrews. That link and links to live stats and video streaming are available at
www.wbuathletics.com.
Saturday's game – the last non-conference contest of the season and the second of three straight season-opening road contests for Wayland – will be just the second meeting between Wayland and Austin College since the Pioneers restarted football in 2012. In fact, the Pioneers and Kangaroos haven't played since that season, when
Austin College won in Sherman, 24-23. Austin College took a safety with 24 seconds left to allow Wayland to pull to within a point, then the Kangaroos blocked a 45-yard field goal on the last play of the game to preserve their win.
While the Pioneers are coming off their 59-20 setback to Louisiana College, Austin College – another NCAA Division III opponent – won its opener in Muskogee, Okla., over Bacone College, 31-18. Wayland edged Bacone in Central States Football League play last season, 26-20.
Austin College produced 271 yards of offense last week against Bacone, with 182 of it coming on the ground.
"They're going to spread the field but they'll run the ball more than they pass," Henderson said. "A lot of their running game is built around their quarterback, Colt Collins. He does a lot of option/read type stuff. They do throw the ball, but they're about 80 percent run."
Collins, a 6-foot-1, 235-pound sophomore from Princeton, Texas, was one of three ground-gainers with at least 40 yards last week. Collins threw the ball 12 times, completing four including a 49-yard touchdown.
On defense, Henderson said, the Kangaroos make up for a lack of size with effective stunting schemes.
"They're not real big so they stunt a lot, and their kids really execute that very, very well."
The Kangaroos came up with four turnovers – three interceptions and a fumble recovery – against Bacone, which also was hurt by 15 penalties. Linebacker Morris Shell, a 5-10, 185-pound linebacker, was AC's top tackler with 12, including a pair of sacks.
"Offensively we have to make some things happen and the defense will fall in behind that," Henderson said.
Henderson said the Pioneers, who conclude their season-opening three-game road swing in Phoenix against Arizona Christian in next week's CSFL opener, came out of their season-opener healthy.
"We have some bumps and bruises, but nobody will be out of this week's game (due to injury)," he said.
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